AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 56

like so many of its brethren, has a manual standby fuel pump. If the engine-driven fuel pump fails in flight, you can theoretically limp home manipulating the standby pump with your left hand. The pretakeoff checklist is similarly brief. Set the elevator trim, close the canopy, announce your intentions, and line up with the runway centerline. With the elevator neutral, steadily add full power and right rudder. Keep your eyes outside, and expect to feel like a circus performer being shot from a cannon. Initial acceleration and the accompanying crescendo of sound are mind numbing, and the tailwheel starts to rise on its own at about 30 mph. Hold a tail-low attitude and the main wheels lift off the ground in about 600 feet at about 70 mph. The rapid acceleration continues through 100 mph as you raise the pitch attitude to about 20 degrees, and the VSI shows a 2,500-fpm climb. This airplane has a cruise prop with 60 inches of pitch (and 76 inches diameter). But even so, it spins a rapid 2,700 rpm during climbout. At 3,000 feet, reduce the throttle and hold 2,500 rpm and 140 mph to the practice area. The wings seem impossibly short, yet they have no trouble holding the airplane aloft. Turns are crisp and taut, and with no linkage between rudder and aileron, it’s a cinch to hold the nose on a point while banking sharply left and right. The full-deflection roll rate is quick, but somewhat less than the 220 degrees per second that the Pitts performance figures claim. (This airplane lacks aileron

spades, so perhaps adding them would quicken the rate to attain the advertised figure.) Loops, Immelmanns, half-Cubans, and other over-the-top maneuvers are typically entered at about 160 mph, and a three-G pull (and full throttle) provides plenty of energy at the apex of each figure. Even on a warm summer day, the Pitts holds its altitude through a series of a dozen consecutive aerobatic maneuvers.

Sustained inverted flight requires forward stick pressure and a slight nose-up attitude. From my seating position, placing the leading edge of the top wing on the horizon nets a vertical speed indication of zero. Power-off stalls break crisply at 60 mph, and recovery is instant when backpressure is relaxed. Inverted stalls require holding full forward stick, and the break takes place at 64 mph. Unaccelerated, upright spins left and right are standard,

AOPA PILOT •

56 • JANUARY 2012



AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012

AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - January 2012
Contents
President's Position
Hangar Talk
AOPA Media
AOPA Action
Letters
Waypoints
Proficient Pilot
Safety Pilot
License to Learn
Pilot Counsel
Fly Well
Pilot Briefing
At Your Fingertips
Budget Buy: Affordable Aerobat
Serious Fun
Tour the Strip, Fight a Friend
LSA: Half Price, Full Featured
FBO Freebies
Air Mobile Joe
2012 Tougher Than a Tornado Sweepstakes: ‘I Came For This’
Technique: Declaring an Emergency
Avionics: No Mandate for ADS-B “In”
Wx Watch: Searching for Snowmageddons
Products: Training Topics
Dogfight: The Perfect Trainer
Never Again
Fly-Outs
Fly by Wire
Pilots
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - January 2012
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - President's Position
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Hangar Talk
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 8
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 9
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - AOPA Media
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 11
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - AOPA Action
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 13
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 14
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 15
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 16
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 17
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 18
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 19
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Letters
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 21
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 22
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 23
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Waypoints
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 25
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Proficient Pilot
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 27
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Safety Pilot
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 29
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - License to Learn
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 31
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Pilot Counsel
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 33
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Fly Well
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 35
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Pilot Briefing
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 37
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 38
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 39
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 40
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 41
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 42
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 43
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 44
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - At Your Fingertips
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 46
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 47
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 48
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 49
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Budget Buy: Affordable Aerobat
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 51
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 52
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 53
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 54
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 55
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 56
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 57
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Serious Fun
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 59
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 60
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 61
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 62
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 63
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Tour the Strip, Fight a Friend
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 65
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 66
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 67
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 68
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 69
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - LSA: Half Price, Full Featured
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 71
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 72
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 73
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 74
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 75
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - FBO Freebies
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 77
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 78
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 79
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 80
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Air Mobile Joe
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 82
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 83
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 84
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 2012 Tougher Than a Tornado Sweepstakes: ‘I Came For This’
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 86
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 87
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 88
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Technique: Declaring an Emergency
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 90
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 91
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 92
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Avionics: No Mandate for ADS-B “In”
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 94
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Wx Watch: Searching for Snowmageddons
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 96
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - I1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - I2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 97
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 98
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Products: Training Topics
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 100
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 101
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Dogfight: The Perfect Trainer
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 103
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Never Again
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 105
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 106
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Fly-Outs
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Fly by Wire
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 109
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 110
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 111
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Pilots
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - Cover4
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